



ORATION 



Delivered July 4th, 1851, in the Capitol at Annapolis, 



BY COL. GEORGE W. HUGHES. 




Class. 
Book. 



.A(. 



izs\ 



A T I O 






DELIVERED ON THE 



SEVENTY-SIXTH ANNIVERSARY 



0i i^t ijihrutiQn nf tjjie 



INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



ULY 4, 1851, 



IN THE SENATE CHAMBER OF THE CAPITOL AT ANNAPOLIS. 



BY COL. GEO. W.' HUGHES. 



ANNAPOLIS: 

OFFICE Of THE STATE CAPITOL GAZETTE, 

Corner of Public Circle and North-east street. 
18 5 1. 



«^ 






ANNAPOLIS, July 7th, l§5l. 
Col. Geo. W. Hughes : 

Dear Sir, — The Committee of Arrangements are very desirous of liaving the interesting 
and appropriate address, delivered by you in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol, on the occa- 
sion of our last National Anniversary, placed in their hands for publication, that those who 
had not the opportunity to hear rnay be gratified by a perusal of the noble and patriotic sen- 
timents therein contained. 

As chairman of the committee, I respectfully ask for a copy of yofir address for the pur- 
pose above specified. 

I hat^e the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

THOS. H. O'NEAL, Ch. Com, ofJrrangemenis. 



WEST RIVER, Md., July 10, 1851. 

My Deaf Sir, — I ha«^e the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 7th inst., 
tequesting a copy of the address delivered by me in Annapolis, on the 4th of the present 
month, for publication. 

It is known to the committee of Arrangements, that owing to an accident, a very brief 
time was allotted to me for the preparation of the Oration ; but I do not feel at liberty to 
refuse your request, communicated in so kind a manner, and therefore place it at your disposal, 

"With all its imperfections on its head." 

Very respectfully, my dear sir, your obedient servant, 

GEORGE W. HUGHES. 

To the Hon. Thomas H. O'Neal, Secretary of State, Chairman Committee of Arrange- 
ments, AnnapoliSj Md. 



ORATION. 



My Friends and Fellow-Citizens: 

Seventy-five years have been inscribed 
on the dial plate of time since the iathers 
of tbe Revolution, which separated us from 
Great Britain, in solemn conclave assem- 
bled, published to the world the Declaration 
of Independence, which we have just heard' 
read, for the maintenance of which they 
pledged "their lives, their fortunes and their 
sacred honor." 

This was no idle and unmeaning pledge, 
for it was made, in the presence of the great 
Judge of the quick and dead, to whom they 
appealed for the rectitude. of their inten- 
tions, and it comprehended almost every 
thing which men in this world hold in the 
highest .consideration. 

From the beginning of time — from the 
instant when the Supreme -Crsator of the 
universe called this globe into existence — 
placed the luminaries in the firmanent, and 
said "Let there be light, and there was 
light," the Sun never rose upon a more 
glorious day, nor one more fraught with 
the earthly happiness of mankind, than on 
the 4th of July, 1776. He had sunk in 
darkness He roi€ in splendor, and as his 
beams were scaltered over our beautiful 
country and gilded its mountain to]is, mil- 
lions bowed in adoration before Iiim and 
hailed his advent with the reverence of 
eastern worshipers. ]l was the dawn rf a 
new creation. The political world was in 
chaos, and the daik spirit of despotism 
brooded over its waters. It is true there 
was occasionally an electric flash — a fitful 
eruption of the volcano, and a fearful up- 
heaving of the masses, which indicated for 



the future a new and better order of things. 
But intellect was w-anting to fashion these 
elements into form and consistency, for 
knowledge, taste and science had combined 
with power to rivet still closer upon the 
people, the fetters of ignorance and super- 
stition. Even in England, the only limited 
monarchy of that age, the true principles 
of sovereignty were unknown, and the 
rights of the people were disregarded — 
Long and bloody civil and religious wars 
had formerly desolated that beautiful island, 
but in the moment of victory, toleration 
was found to mean only the supremacy of 
a sect, and liberty the privileges of an or- 
der. The vo'ces of the working classes — 
the laboring millions whose sweat and blood 
had swelled her wealih, filled her coffers, 
and extended her dominion by land and sea 
until imperial Rome, in the height of power, 
was scarcely her equal — was unheard in the 
legislative councils of the nation. Others 
reaped where they had sown and enjoyed 
as well the fruits of their valor as of their 
toil. If at that period such was the politi- 
cal condition of the people of England, 
their social position was undoubtedly supe- 
rior to that of most of the continental popu- 
lation, who out of the municipal corpora- 
tions, were regarded as mere serfs of the 
soil, to be transferred with the estates on 
which they were born and to which they 
belonged. 

Jt was reserved for the new world to 
first recognize the riglUs of man, and to 
j)roc!nim to the old the fundamental truth 
that the people are the natural source of all 
power — of all honor and of all sovereignty. 



The success of our revoluliou, which was j sumptuously every day," liave generously 



long regarded by many eminent men at home 
and abroad, as a political experiment, has 
excited all the efforts in Europe for the last 
70 years in favor of the rights of the peo- 
ple and the extension of liberal principles — 
a holy cause, which can no more be arrested 
by the hand of arbitrary power than the 
surges of the ocean could be controlled by 
the voice of Canute — a cause destined to 
spread until it covers the face of the civil- 
ized world, and the very name of king shall 
become as odious as it was in Italy from 
the exile of the Tarquins, until liberty ex- 
pired on the bloody plains of Thessaly 
There is novv a public opinion which per- 
vades all Europe and is felt and recognized 
every where. It is whispered in Constan- 
tinople and muttered in Madrid. It descends 
to the dungeons of the Inquisition. It is 
proclaimed from the seven' hills of the 
Eternal City and is omnipotent in Paris. 
It has spread over all Germany and has 
been heard like the sound of many waters 
in imperial Vienna. It has even penetrated 
the walls of the Kremlin and caused the 
Autocrat to tremble on his throne. It can 
be circumscribed by no geographical bounds; 
it can be restrained by no cordon of armed 
retainers. It is in the very atmosphere we 
breathe, and "leaps from crag to crag like 
the live thunder." No sovereign, however 
despotic, will undertake in the present age 
to say with the proud and arrogant Louis 
Xiy, «/ am the State," for he feels that 
there is within the State a stronger power 
than his own, before which, when moved 
into action, he will be compelled to yield as 
the sturdy oak is prostrated by the temjjest. 
The monarch is no longer the State, but the 
especial guardian of his people, for whom, 
they being incapable of self-control, he as- 
sumes by the grace of God, the carking 
cares and toils of government. But this is 
an ungrateful world; and I have never heard 
of the subjects of a monarchy having ex- 
pressed any high Appreciation of the self- 
sacrifice shown by those who, living in 
marble palaces and 'dining in gilded halls, 
•'wearing purple and fine linen and faring 



taken upon themselves all the affairs of 
State, except its burdens. 

To avoid the acknowledgment of the 
great and incontroveitible truth, that the 
sovereignty of a nation resides in the peo- 
ple, the British Constitution (if thejmere 
will of parliament may be called a constitu- 
tion) has adopted a ridiculous fallacy — a 
fallacy so obvious that it can neither de- 
ceive themselves nor others. The corner- 
stone of their political structure is the ax- 
iom that "the King can do no wrong:" and 
yet they have beheaded one monarch — ex- 
iled another, and, violating, according to 
their views, the sacred right of primogeni- 
ture, deprived hjs innocent son, whatever 
may have been the crimes of the father, of 
the succession to the throne, to which his 
claim, according to the plainest principles 
of the government, was clear and unques- 
tionable; and placed "the sceptre in an un- 
lineal hand, no son of his succeeding." 

Any one who has carefully read the his- 
tory of the British revolution of 1688-9, 
must have been struck with the embarrass- 
ments of the Whig party by the passive re- 
sistance of James the II. Had they not by 
the wiles of the Prince of Orange, operated 
so far upon the fears of that pusillanimous 
tyrant and cruel bigot, as to induce him to 
leave the kingdom by flight, who can un- 
dertake to say what the consequences might 
have been.' In all human probability, the 
flames of civil discord would once more' 
have been enkindled, and the whole realm 
have been drenched with fraternal blood; 
and all this the result of ignorance of the 
great political truth, (on' which, however, 
they had practiced,) that the governor holds 
his authority solely by the assent of the 
governed, and is directly responsible to 
them for its exercise. The monarch, 
properly regarded, was simply the chief 
magistrate of the nation, and like all other 
magistrates and public officers vi-as invested 
with special authority for the public wel- 
fare; and if they had repudiated in princi- 
ple, as they had in fact, his pretensions to 
rule by the "divine right of kings," the 



whole question would have been easy ol 
solution, and his throne without further 
trouble been declared forfeited, by the abuse 
of powfer. 

In truth, disguise it as the British pub- 
licists may, the crown was conferred on 
"William and Mary" hy election, and there 
is no avoiding that conclusion; for, if it 
were not so, a grosser usurpation is unre- 
corded in history. It is singular that the 
dogma of "the divine right" should have 
been so strenuously upheld by the hierar- 
chy of England, when a perusal of Scrip- 
ture so plainly teaches the salutary lesson 
that the first king granted by the Almighty 
to his chosen people w^as in akger, and 
as a punishment for their sins and disobe- 
dience. 

The only monarch who has fully recogniz- 
ed the people as the source of all sovereignty 
was Napoleon Bonaparte, who, in his cele- 
brated speech in the Champs de Mai, when 
he restored the eagles to the difTerent regi- 
ments of the French army, said, with as 
much truth as sublimity, "General, Consul, 
Emperor ! I hold all from the French peo- 
pie " This was uttered in the same spirit 
of enthusiasm and knowledge of human 
nature as in his address to the troops before 
the great battle of Egypt, when, stretching 
forth his hand, he exclaimed: "From the 
tops of those pyramids forty centuries con- 
template your actions." It was remarked 
w'ith great force by Robert Hall, an emi- 
nent dissenting divine, and one of the first 
intellects of his age, that "the battle of 
Waterloo had set back the dial of history 
ten degrees." And so. undoubtedly it did, 
as regards the progress of liberal principles 
in Europe. 

Looking, my friends, to the consequen- 
ces entailed by our revolution on the rights 
and happiness of mankind, how much 
cause have you and all of us for gratitude, 
under Providence, to those great men who 
set the ball in motion. 

The history of the world records no 
sjiectacle more full of moral sublimity and 
grandeur than the assembling of the Ameri- 
can Congress at Philadelphia, when they 



first promulgated to the winds of heaven 
the political axiom, "that all men are crea- 
ted equal : that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain unalienable rights : 
that among these are life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness :" and that all gov- 
ernments derive their just powers from the 
consent of the governed." 

These were new, startling but philosoph- 
ical truths, very remotely connected with 
the dreamy speculations of the imaginative 
politicians of the 17th century, who sought 
in what was called the "social compact" 
for the authority of governments, in which 
each individual man was considered, in his 
normal condition, as surrendering a portion 
of his natural rights, and those of his pos- 
lerity,to secure the great ends of civilized 
society. This view of the origin of gov- 
ernments and the rights of the governed 
belonged rather to the fancy of the poet 
than to the philosophy of the statesman; 
for no such condition of things can be found 
recorded in the pages of history. On the 
contrary, our Declaration of Independence 
boldly proclaimed the practical fact, that it 
was the living generation that had the right 
to establish an organic law for itself, but 
not to bind future generations, who in their 
turn would possess an equal right to form 
a government for themselves. 

For the first time in the annals of nations 
the highest intellect was arrayed against 
despotic power. From that period may be 
dated the true expositions of the principles 
of government, — the correlative duties of 
the rulers and the ruled, and the annuncia- 
tion of the fact that all exercise of legiti- 
mate authority should be for the "greatest 
good of the greatest numbers," and beside 
this, all else was usurpation and abuse. 

There is a peculiar propriety that we 
should assemble and meet together on an 
occasion like the present, to return thanks 
to Almighty God, who has blessed us be- 
yond measure as a people, and to manifest 
our sense of gratitude to the signers of the 
Declaration of American Independence, 
who were truly the benefactors of the hu- 
man race. They were indeed men "out of 



xhe common roll." They brought with 
them for the performance of their great and 
holy task, high intellect," moral courage, 
philosophy, purity of motive and the most 
exalted patriotism; in fact, all the qualities 
that diiijnify and adorn human nature. A 
more august body never assembled on this 
earth, nor one charged \vith a higher mis- 
sion; for they may be said to have held in 
their hands the temporal destiny of millions 
yet unborn. When the barbarian Gauls, 
under their leader Brennus, penetrated to 
the Forum, and saw the venerable Roman 
Senators in their robes of office, quietly 
seated in their curule chairs and calmly 
awaiting their approaching fate, struck with 
admiration and astonishment, they ex- 
claimed: "These are gods I" And yet, the 
Roman Senate exhibited no greater firm- 
ness, no higher moral sublimity, than our 
Conscript Fathers, as each one placed his 
name to that solemn Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, which in case of failure would 
have proved the death warrant of the sign- 
er. When Charles Carroll affixed his 
name to that immortal instrument, some 
one observed that it would be difficult for 
the British Government to identify him, as 
there were so many of the same name. 
He immediately added "of Carrollton," a 
designation which he ever afterwards re- 
tained, and which has become a prouder 
title than any ])atent of nobility which roy- 
alty could confer. Another remarked: 
"There goes a million with the dash of a 
pen;" for he was emphaticallj', in more 
senses than one, a "man of a million." — 
They were indeed, my fi lends, men of stout 
hearts and ready hands; they cast every 
thing "on the liazard of a die;" the}' calm- 
ly prepared to enter into a contest, for life 
or death, with the most powerful nation of 
modern times; "on whose d<iminions, "it 
has been beautifully said, "the sun never 
sets," and "the roll of whose drums at 
reveille accompanies him in his daily 
course;'' they well knew the disparity of 
strength and wealth between the infant Col- 
onies of America and the mother country, 
and how doubtful such a conflict, lookinE: 



to mere liuman moans, must be. It was 
like the stripling David encountering the 
Giant of Gath; but they, like he, trusted to 
a higher than human power. They ap- 
pealed from their earthly tyrant to the Su- 
preme Judge of the Universe, and their 
appeal was registered in the chancery of 
heaven. Looking to him for assistance, 
they threw down the gage of battle, raised 
the standard of Independence, and called 
upon their fellow citizens to rally round it. 
You all know the history and the result of 
our war of Independence. Yon have 
learned it in childhood on your father's 
knee. You may be said to have almost 
drunk it in your mother's milk. The names 
of VVashington and Hancock, Adams, Jef- 
ferson, Franklin and their compeers, are as 
familiar to you as "household words." I 
shall not attempt to record their heroic 
deeds; to detail their sufferings, their doubts; 
to follow them to the field of battle, or to 
trace their footsteps over plains of snow, 
too often marked with blood, or to recite 
their triumph. I shall say nothing of the 
glories of Bunker Hill, or of Trenton, of 
Saratoga, or the "crowning mercy" of 
Yorktown. These are written on the 
brightest pages of histor}', and will be read 
with enthusiasm till time shall be no long- 
er. "The history of our war of independ- 
ence is but the story of the struggles of a 
poor and peaceful, but a generally well in- 
formed and educated people, against culti- 
vated talent, abundant wealth and discip- 
lined valor. Then, in the glowing lan- 
guage of one of our own bards:"* 

Then war liecame the peasant's joy; her drum 
His merriest music, and her field of death 

His conch of happy dreams 

After life'ci harvesl-iioine. 

Me battles, heart and arm, his own blue sky 
Above him, and Jiis own green land around ; 
Land of his fallier's giave, 
His blessing and his prayers! 

Land, where he learnt to lisp a mother's name, 
The first beloved on earth, liie last forgot — 

Land of his frolic j'oulh — 

LaiiJ of his bridal eve! 

*Halleck. Field of the orounded arms. 



Land of his children ! Vain your columned 

strength, 
Invaders ! vain your battle's steel and fire ! 

Choose ye the morrow's doom, 

A prison or a grave. 

Of such, the mechanical and working 
classes, were many of the brave men whose 
intellect and blood secured our liberties. 
^Foremost among them was JYath. Greene, 
the hero* of the South, the blacksmith of 
Rhode Island, whom, Hamilton, while he 
pronounced Washington to be the first man 
of the age, declared to be "the first soldier 
of the war." Then followed the book-binder, 
Knox, afterwards Secretary of War, or as 
Randolph of Roanoke, called him, "Master 
of the horse," to President Washington; arid 
amongst the mechanics of N. York, Mari- 
nus Willet, the "bravest of the brave." 
Our interests abroad were represented by the 
printer, Franklin, one of the most illustri- 
ous men of the age, who after a long life of 
toil and privation, consecrated the fruits of 
his philosophy to the sacred cause of hu- 
man liberty, and was more honored in Eu- 
rope for his republican simplicity than 
princes of the highest rank. 

In our councils at home, and one of the 
most distinguished five to whom was en- 
trusted the high honor of preparing the 
Declaration of Independence, was the shoe- 
maker, Roger Sherman, one of our sound- 
est statesmen and most eloquent orators, a 
man self-educated and self-sustained. Truly 
"honor and shame from no condition rise." 
What a salutary lesson may be drawn 
from our history by the poor son of toil 
who spends his days in labor and his nights 
in study. With natural intellect, with in- 
dustry, with virtue and sobriety, and an 
abiding faith in God and love to his fellow 
man, he may aspire to the highest honors 
which his countrymen can confer — the high- 
est honors in the world— the suffrages of a 
free and enlightened people. He may find 
a bright exemplar in Andrew Jackson, and 
a practical illustration of the genius and 

*This and the succeeding paragraph are con- 
densed from an Address before "the Mechan- 
ics' Institute of tiie city of New York,'' by G. 
C. Verplank, Esq., 183a. 



sound republicanism of our institutions. 
Left at an early age an unprotected orphan, 
invested vvith no adventitious advantages in 
life, isolated and self-dependent, with no 
support but the indomitable energy of his 
own will, we find him elevated to his proud 
position by the gratitude, respect and con- 
fidence of his countrymen for his eminent 
public services, his exalted patriotism and 
his proverbial integrity. With instinctive 
sagacity, they hailed him as the man of the 
age, and breaking loose from the trammel s and 
organization of party, and snapping asunder 
the leading strings of interested and selfish 
politicians, the masses rose in their strength 
and carried him triumphantly on their 
shoulders to the presidential chair. He 
owed his advancement to no clique and to 
no faction. No caucus, no convention was 
necessary for his nomination, for there arose 
spontaneously a voice from the East and 
from the West, from the North and from , 
the South, from the cities and from the 
fields, from the valleys and from the moun- 
tains, saying, " This is theman of the people 
and we will that he shall rule over us." 
One great element of his success consisted 
in, what the mere politician cannot com- 
prehend—his sterling integrity of char- 
acter in every relation in life. Andrew 
Jackson was one of the most honest men that 
ever lived. He deceived no man; he violated 
no pledges.' His election and administration 
furnish proofs that Republics are not un- 
grateful, but reward merit, intellect and em- 
inent services wherever found; and that the 
true " republicanism of this nation has 
grown with its growth, and strengthened 
with its strength." 

If another example were wanting it may 
be found in our present worthy chief mag- 
istrate, the clothier's apprentice, who at a 
most critical period of our history was 
called to the exercise of the highest func- 
tions of sovereignty, and who has thus far 
filled his high destiny with honor to him- 
self and to the country. 

J!vly friends, your own lovely city of An- 
napolis, the " time honored" capital of 
Maryland, and under the proprietary gov- 



10 



ernmeiit the metropolis oi the wealth and 
fashion of the colonies, and which has 
since so well sustained its ancient reputa- 
tion for hospitality and beauty, is rich in 
historical associations. It is the birth-place 
of Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, and the last 
survivor upon earth of that immortal band. 
It was granted to him to attain extreme old 
age, with faculties unimpaired, and to wit- 
ness in the growth of our glorious union in 
wealth and power, the full fruition of his 
early hopes. He lived to enjoy what might 
almost be called posthumous fame. It was 
here that, following the example of Boston, 
the obnoxious tea was destroyed, by which 
act Maryland was committed to the cause 
of the Revolution. And here within these 
very walls, "the Father of his Country," 
after the termination of one of the most 
memorable struggles on record, and the se- 
curity of our National Independence, divest- 
ed himself of the almost dictatorial author- 
ity with which he had been clothed, sur- 
rendered his commission* to the power that 
gave it, and retired for a while to the peace- 
ful shades of Mount Vernon, until called 
by the unanimous voice of a grateful peo- 
ple to rule a country he had saved. It was 
the sublime termination of a great historical 
drama, performed on the stage of a conti- 
nent, with the world for an audience, and 
its actors heroes and statesmen. He entered 
this hall the honored chief of a victorious 
army, flushed with success, and devoted to 
its leader. He left it a simple citizen, like 
Cincuinatus, to return to the cultivation of 
the soil. As he retired from this room how 
many emotions must have agitated his soul! 
How many associations must have rushed 
on his memory, oppressing it with the 
weight of their sweet and bitter recollec- 
tions! The scenes through which he had 
passed — the many hours of darkness, of 
doubt, and of uncertainty, which had hung 
over the Revolutinn — the battles he had 

*Gen. Washington resigned his commission 
on the 23d of December, 1783, subsequent to 
the reception of the treaty of peace, but before 
iti ratification by Congress. 



fought, and above all the remembrance of 
those whose lives had been sacrificed in the 
holy cause of liberty, must all have beerj 
called up before him with the distinctness 
of reality. 

And here the definitive treaty of peace, 
signed in Paris on the 3d of September, 
1783, by the plenipotentiaries of their res- 
pective governments, which acknowledged 
and established the independence of the 
colonies, was ratified by Congress and the 
great seal of the United Slates affixed ou 
the 14th January, 1784.* 

Your city nurtures within its bosom our 
most venerable seat of learning, which can 
boast amongst its alumni many of the emi- 
nent statesmen of the age, while the names 
of Humphrey and of Sparks will be recog- 
nized wherever science is cultivated or let- 
ters honored. 

In taking a retrospective view of our 
history for the last seventy-five years, how 
much cause do we find for pride and con- 
gratulation ! Many are still living, to 
whom a merciful Providence has vouch- 
safed the privilege of seeing the thirteen 
feeble colonies risen to the stature of thirty 
full grown and flourishing States inhabited 
by a brave, intelligent and industrious pop- 
ulation, devoted to republican institutions 
and to our peculiar form of government . 
whose energies and perseverance have 
driven off the beasts of prey " and men as 
wild and fierce as they ;" and whose hardy 
hands and brawny arms have prostrated the 
forests, and converted the howling wilder- 
ness into a " garden blooming like the 
rose ;" while railroads and canals traverse 
almost every portion of our wide-spread 
empire, and even the lightning of heaven 
has been chained, by Afitierican genius, to 
the heavy car, and has been rendered sub- 
servient to the physical wants, and even 
the messenger of the thoughts, of civilized 
man. We have, indeed, 'much reason to 
be proud of the present condition of our 
magnificent country, and to look forward 

*For these facts I am indebted to the inves- 
tigations of Tlios. Karneij, Esq., of Annapolis. 



11 



with bright anticipations to its future des- 
tiny. Already we number more than 
twenty millions of population, spread over 
a continent whose shores are laved by the 
waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans — 
possessed of every variety of soil and 
temperature from the Hyperborean regions 
of the North to the soft and sunny South ; 
and whose mighty rivers bear on their 
troubled surface, the rich agricultural pro- 
ductions of every clime ; while within its 
bosom have been deposited, by a beneficent 
Creator, untold millions of mineral wealth. 
It was such a glorious vision as this 
which must have burst on the Poet-Pro- 
phet,* when contemplating the rise and 
fall of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Macedo- 
nian and Roman empires, he exclaimed in 
the spirit of inspiration, 

Westward tlie course of empire takes his way ; 

The four first acts already past, 
A. fifth shall close the drama with the day : 

Time's noblest offspring is the last. 

Our increase in wealth and population — 
our success in cultivating the arts and 
sciences,, especiall)' those connected with 
utilitarian objects, is unexampled in the 
history of nations. We have shown, too, 
our ability 'to maintain our high destiny by 
an appeal to arms when necessary. The 
aggressions of Great Britain, in 1812, com- 
pelled us, once more, but most reluctantly, 
to resort to war for the protection of " Free 
trade and Sailor's rights," for we had seen 
our ships plundered, our citizens outraged, 
and our flag insulted on the great highway 
of nations. To have quietly submitted to 
this degradation would have been an act 
of political suicide. . It would have blotted 
us out from the list of nations, and there 
would have been left to us only the poor 
privilege of choosing a master powerful 
enough to extend to us that protection 
which we could no longer command for 
ourselves. 

And again, but a few years since, when 
the duplicity and the oft-repeated injuries 
inflicted on us by a neighboring republic, 
so called — but in reality a military aristoc- 

• Bishop Berkley. 



racy — forced us once more to take up arms, 
thousands, at the first call of their country, 
left their plows and workshops — the luxu- 
ries and comforts of home, for the toilsome 
march — the nightly bivouac — the perils of 
a pestilential climate, and the dangers of 
battle in a foreign land. The question was, 
" Who would be permitted to fight fur their 
country ?" — not, " Who should be compel- 
led to render military service .'" — for of the 
masses who flocked to the rendezvous, 
nearly one-half were rejected. " The race 
was to the swift/' and the government 
could establish no other rule than to accept 
of those who first ofiered. 

How different is this from other countries, 
where the ruthless law of conscription year- 
ly takes fiom home, rarely to be returned, 
except in old age, with battered bodies and 
shattered constitutions, nearly all of the 
youthful male population. It is the law of 
force ; and the subject is compelled to risk 
his life in fighting the battles of a govern- 
ment, that, perhaps, in his heart of hearts^ 
he holds in contempt and hatred for its 
corruptions and oppressions. 

The military power and resources of our 
country are unknown to Europe and scarce- 
ly appreciated by ourselves. They saw 
but a small standing force, too insignificant 
in point of numbers to be called an army, 
and wondered ^at our temerity in embarking 
in a contest with a nation which had been 
in a constant state of warfare for thirty 
years, and had achieved its independence of 
a country celebrated for its courage and ob- 
stinacy; for it is well known that the world 
never saw, from the time of the Macedo- 
nian phalanx, a better infantry than the 
Spanish under the "Great Captain," Gon- 
zalvo de Cordova. And yet, while fighting 
at a remote distance from our supplies, a 
formidable enemy in his own country and 
even before the walls of his capitol, we 
were charitably feeding out of our abund- 
ance the starving nations of Europe. But 
the truth is, our little army was probably, 
in discipline and the science of war, equal, 
if not superior to any foice of like numbers 
in the world, and every citizen of the Uni- 



12 



led States is a soldier. While the whole 
policy of our government is widely pacific, 
the genius of our people is warlike, and 
in no other country is military reputation 
more highly appreciated and rewarded. If 
this were the proper occasion, it would be 
easy to show that this is a natural and 
proper feeling, and one well calculated to 
insure the perpetuity of our institutions — 
but time is wanting. It will not, however, 
be out of place to remark that one import- 
ant element of our military strength is to 
be found in the volunteer system ; a system 
often held up by the ignorant to unmerited 
ridicule — but one on which we can rely 
with safety in the hour of pressing danger. 
There is scarcely a large city in our union 
that is not capable, with the assistance of 
the forts built by the Federal government, 
and which the volunteers may man, ol 
self-defence against any force that will ever 
probably be thrown upon our shores. Il 
has been my fortune to visit most of the 
great military powers of Europe, and to 
examine their resources with the interest 
which naturally attaches to the profession 
for which I have been educated, and in 
which I have spent more than half of the 
life ordinarily allotted to man, and I do not 
hesitate to assert, as the result of much 
observation, that I could designate amongst 
the volunteer corps of our own State, troops, 
in point of drill, discipline, and military 
bearing, far superior to the celebrated 
French National Guards. And I have 
no doubt that our distinguished fellow- 
citizen, the Governor of Maryland, who 
honors us with his presence, would, if 
appealed to, fully confirm this state- 
ment. The truth is that no people in 
the world are so readily converted into 
.=olditrs as our own people, and none 
that so willingly conform to discipline, 
submit to legitimate authority, and become 
so soon proficient in the drill. This is the 
natural result of their intelligence, love of 
order, respect for authority, and attachment 
to military life; and they soon comprehend 
that their own safety, and reputation, dear- 
er to them than life itself, are all depend- 



ent on a proper subordination to those who 
are placed in command. Resides this, they 
are familiar with the use of arms, and in- 
ured to labor. Like the Roman soldiers, 
the field of battle is to them a relief from 
their ordinary daily toil. In no other 
country than this, will you hnd the citizen 
equipping himself at considerable personal 
expense and freely giving up his time to 
learn the details of a soldier's life, without 
the countenance and support of the govern- 
ment. All this is on his part gratuitous; 
but the consequence is that our government 
could, at almost a moment's warning, if an 
exigency should require it, call into the 
field nearly half a million of well-drilled, 
able-bodied and well-armed citizen soldiers, 
whose natural courage and patriotism, 
would more than compensate for any de- 
ficiency in military science. 

It is creditable to our volunteers, that in 
the few civil commotions with which we 
have been cursed, thejr have been found on 
the side of law and order — the conservators 
of the puhlic peace; and that they have not 
hesitated when circumstances imperiously 
called for it, to use the arms. placed in their 
hands, against those who would make war 
against the life and property of their fel- 
low citizens. This, in combination with 
the wise precaution of our government, in 
sedulously cultivating, on the recommenda- 
tion of General Washington, the highest 
grade of military science, constitutes our 
true military strength, and makes us one of 
the most powerful nations of the earth. 

It is also a matter of congratulation that 
our government has established here a 
school for our maritime arm of defence, 
from which the best fruits may be antici- 
pated, not only from the character of the 
young gentlemen who compose it, but from 
that of the gallant officers and accomplished 
professors who are devoting their l)est en- 
ergies for its success, and to meet the just 
expectations of our people. We all look 
with peculiar pride to the achievements of 
our navy: and if there be any of ihose 
young gentlemen, belonging to the Naval 
Academy, within the sound of my voice, 



3et me say lo them earnestly, with the 
kindness of one attached to a kindred 
branch of llie connmon service, that they 
have been selected from the youths of our 
country as the special depositaries of a great 
anJ precious trust — that ol upholding on 
the uttermost v\-aters of the ocean the glo 
riotis flag of "the stars and stripes," which 
has never yet been struck in the face of an 
enemy with dishonor or disgrace. I feel 
sure that it never will be; it is in safe hands: 
but woe betide the man that will first per- 
mit it: " 'Twere better for him that he had 
never been born." 

But, my friends, there are other battles to 
be fought besides those on the ensanguined 
field': there are other conflicts which require 
as much of firmness and of nerve, as to 
charge with rushing squadrons in the melee 
of the fight, or to strike for the honor ol 
our flag. There are othef laurels to be 
Won, though bloodless, as fresh and green 
as those which deck the victofs brow, or 
spring from the hero's grave. It is in doing 
battle manfully for great constitutional 
principles, and for the rights of the people. 
These are the fields of civic strife ! These 
the wreaths of civic triumph '! In a mixed 
audience like the present, composed of per- 
sons of widely different sentiments on many 
of the great questions of the times, I shall 
make no remarks on the struggle through 
which we have just passed, nor indulge in 
a^iy comments on the important instrument 
which this day becomes, by the unmistaka- 
ble and irresistible will of the people, the 
Constitution of the State of Maryland. 

We live in an age pregnant of great 
events — a progressive age — in the arts and 
sciences, and especially in the science of 
politics. That which was adapted to the 
wants of the last generation is unsuited to 
the present: and that which may answer 
oiir purpose, must, in turn, give way to the 
wishes of our descendants. It would be 
presumptuous in us to attempt, even if we 
possessed the right, to enact a fundamental 
law for the government of posterity. 

It is well that we should sometimes re- 
cur to the true theory of our government, 



which is in practice too often violated or 
denied; and this would seem to be a proper 
occasion for such a purpose. As I under- 
stand the matter, and as we received it from 
our fathers, the fundamental principle of 
republicanism, as contradistinguished from 
monarchy — the corner-stone of our politi- 
cal structure, is the axiom, that the people 
are the depositary of all sovereignty — that 
all public officers are constituted for their 
benefit and should be directly responsible 
to them for the exercise of their delegated 
power; and that, in the language of the 
Declaration of Independence, "Whenever 
any form of government becomes subver- 
sive of these ends, [the ends for which it 
was instituted,] it is the right of the people 
to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a 
new government, laying its foundation on 
such principles, and organizing its powers 
in such form as lo them may seem most 
likely to effect iheir safety or happiness." 
Of the necessity of such changes then the 
Uviag people alone can be the judge, and 
the duty of a good citizen is to bow cheer- 
fully to theilr mandate. This view of the 
case is usually conceded in this country; 
but is often practically denied; for while 
the sovereignty of the people is admitted, 
as an . abstract proposition, it is contended 
that they are incapable of exercising many 
of the attribirtes of sovereignty, especially 
that of selecting the ministers of their will; 
and that while they are competent to choose 
their governors and enact their own laws, 
through their representatives, they are 
nevertheless incompetent to select those 
who are to construe and give force to those 
lavsrs — a higher than legislative authority. 
If this be true, then is our whole theory 
of government wrong and the people no 
longer sovereign, for that very power in- 
volves the exercise of one of the very 
highest attributes of sovereignty. I can 
very well understand why, in other coun- 
tries, where the appointing power is vested 
in the king, certain officers should be ren- 
dered, by the tenure of office, independ- 
ent of the appointing power; but I confess 
that I do not comprehend the necessity 



14 



with us, where there is but 07ie party, and 
where they are instituted for the benefit of 
the people, on whose interests and rights 
they are called upon directly to act. I 
wish to see with us no officer independent 
of public opinion, or claiming to hold 
power from any other source than that of 
the sovereign authority. If there be any 
truth in our principles of government, then 
we canriot err when every public agent 
is brought as near as possible to the peo- 
ple, and held responsible to them. 

1 have an abiding confidence in what 
may be termed tiie instincts of the people. 
In the settlement of great questions agitating 
the whole land, they are seldom wrong. 
How many examples of the truth of this 
assertion may we not find in our history 
for the last few years.' A single one will 
suffice, as I desire not to be tedioua. In 
what 1 shall now have to say, I trust 
that I shall not be understood as speaking 
in any mere party spirit, for such a suppo- 
sition would do me great injustice, I wish 
only to draw from past events, legiti- 
mate conclusions, in which I believe those 
who hear me will concur. We all remem- 
ber the crisis through which we passed 
when the Bank of the United States was 
contending, with its power of wealth, to 
perpetuate its existence. We all remember 
the predictions of pressure and ruin in 
case it were refused. We were told that 
our ships would rot at our wharves— that 
commerce would stagnate —that the ex- 
changes would become deranged — that in- 
dustry would be paralyzed, and we were 
even threatened with violence and revolu- 
tion. 

This wag honestly believed by many of 
the most eminent statesmen and the bright- 
est intellects of the age; and yet amidst all 
this elemental strife, this war of factions, 
while all around him quaked with present 
fear ani future apprehensions, the Hero of 
JVew Orleans— the soldier sage, stood firm 
and immovable. 



While round its breost the rolling clouds arc 

spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 



"Like some tall cliff that rears its awful form, 
Heaves from the vale, and midway meets the 
storm; 



And what sustained him in this contro- 
versy.' It was the honest confidence, the 
natural instincts of a generous people, 
whose impulse scattered to the winds the 
sophistries of those who wished to batten 
on the public wealth, and to establish a sys- 
tem, the tendency of which was "to make 
the rich richer, and the poor poorer.'* 
When the contest was over, the storm was 
laid, the clouds disappeared, and the sun of 
prosperity shone forth in his pristine splen- 
dor. And when, let me ask, has our coun- 
try, from the foundation of the government, 
been more prosperous and happy than now? 
When has our currency been more sound, 
our commerce more active, our e.xchanges 
more uniform, and when has labor been 
better rewarded.' 

It has been said, within the last few 
years, by the great light of this or any other 
age— by a man whose genius and patriotism 
we all delight to honor— one of the most 
strenuous advocates for the re-chaiter of the 
Bank, that a ^^Bank of the United States 
was an obsolete idea." The brilliant intel- 
lect then of Daniel Webster was wrong and 
the glorious instincts of the people were 
right. We might multiply many examples 
to the same purpose, but I shall thus briefly 
dispose of the subject. 

While we enjoy the inestimable blessings 
of our political system, we should not for- 
get that we bold a precious trust for the 
benefit of posterity. This trust we can 
honorably discharge only by respecting the 
example of our fathers and transmitting it 
unsullied to our descendants. We must 
inculcate in our children their glorious pre- 
cepts, cherish their republican principles^ 
imitate their simplicity and economy, and 
strengthen the institutions which they es- 
tablished. Those institutions form a wise 
and safe system of government to which 
we should adhere with a religious devotion. 
And above all let us not forget that our 
national constitution, under the shadow and 
protection of whose wings we have growii; 



15 



lo be a mighty people, Was the result of a 
mutual compromise of various and conflict- 
ing interests, feelings and jealousies; and 
that it can bfe sustained only by the same 
sacrifices and compromises, by a steady ad- 
herence to the great and immutable princi- 
ples of justice, and by preserving inviolate 
its conditions and guarantees. 

it is not too much to say that the ingenu- 
ity of man could not possibly devise a form 
oi government better adapted in all its parts 
to our geographical position in reference to 
other nations, to our w^ants and to our ne- 
cessities. It possesses the harmony and 
■order of the solar system, in which each 
particular planet, keeping within its own 
prescribed limits and moving within its own 
orbit, revolves around the common centre 
of the whole; nor can one "shoot madly 
from its sphere" without disturbing the 
equilibrium and endangering the safety of 
all. By such an eccentric coarse on the 
part of a State, our whole confederate sys- 
tem might be destroyed. And where is the 
master spirit, where the creative mind, that 
could again call it into existence and mould 
it into its present symmetrical proportions 
from this political "wreck of matter and 
crush of worlds?" As well attempt to 
hreathe vitality into a skeleton, or to expect 
iife from the galvanic action upon a corpse- 
Our Union, by leaving to each State the 
-unrestricted regulation of its internal and 
domestic afiairs and admitting each to a fair 
participation in the power and honors of 
the General Government, is capable of m- 
Jinite expanshn without incurring the dan- 
ger, on the one hand, of centralization, or 
on the other, of breaking asunder by tire 
weight of its extremities. By this reason- 
able arrangement the centripetal and centrif- 
ugal forces of our political system are held 
in just equilibrio; and a perfect harmony of 
interest and action may thus be maintained 
between different members of the confeder- 
acy, notwithstanding an occasional pertur- 
bation which may for awhile exert its bale- 
ful and disturbing influences. The federa- 
tion can as well embrace within its frater- 



nal arms a hundred as thirteen States, and 
with each sovereign increment gain in 
dignity and power. Who then can pre- 
sume to set bounds to its legitimate increase, 
or to attempt to limit its territorial acquisi- 
tions? Or who can stay its march, until it 
covers the isles of our seas, and 



■'The whole boundless continent is ours?" 



None but he who holds in the hollow of 
his hand the fate of men and directs with 
his finger the destiny of nations! 

No government, since the first dawn of 
civilization to the present time, with the 
exception of our own, has ever satisfactorily 
solved the great problem of fusing into one 
homogeneous mass, men of difTerent nations, 
tongues and creeds. The Babylonian and 
Persian kings did not accomplish it. The 
empire of the Macedonian conqueror — phil- 
osopher as well as hero--expired with its 
founder. The Romans signally failed in 
their efforts ; and the sceptre and iron 
crown of Charlemagne remained buried 
in his sarcophagus, until seized by a 
greater than Charlemagne for a period 
as brief as it was brilliant. In recent times 
the attempt io force a union between Bel- 
gium and Holland resulted only in mutual 
hatred and ultimately in bloody separation; 
and at this lime we find in Central and 
Northern Europe, the different races of 
Teutonic, Finnish, Sclavonic and Maygar 
origin, as distinct in feelings, language and 
reli°;ion, as they were centuries ago; nor is 
there any probable closer approximation to 
be anticipated for the future. England has 
not been more successful than her sister 
monarchies in conciliating conquered or 
peacefully acquired countries; for the peo- 
ple ol Ireland and the habitants of Canada, 
are at this day as hostile to her policy and 
institutions as they were when first incor- 
porated with her dominions ; while she can- 
not even rely upon the colonies peopled by 
her own subjects. And yet we have seen 
in our own history a whole territory — ma- 
ture as Minerva from the brain of Jupiter 
— composed almost exclusively of a people 



16 



foreign in blood, language* and religion to 
the great mass of the population of the 
rest of the country, admitted as a sovereign 
member of our confederation; yet where 
will you find a more loyal State, or one 
more devoted to the Union than Louisiana? 
She has shown it on the field of battle — 
has consecrated herself by the best blood of 
her sons, and as each revolving year brings 
with it the anniversary of the victory of 
New Orleans, she displays with a just 
pride, the tattered but glorious banner of 
the Louisiana Legion, torn by the balls of 

* Not many years since one of the U. States 
Senators from Louisiana could not speak 
English. One of her present Senators is the 
eloquent SoiiJe, a man whose views, it is 
true, are rather ultra on the subject of Stale's 
rights, but whose patriotism is undoubted. 



the invader, who had counted with a false 
security upon the disafluction of her inhab- 
itants. 

In the language of one of our most elo- 
quent writers, "May the rights of the 
State government be preserved inviolate — 
the government of the United States be 
sustained by the patriotism of the people, 
in the faithful discharge of its constitution, 
al duties, and the political Arch of our 
Union ever remain as beautiful as that 
glorious Arch which spans the heavens, 
and as endearing as the firmament in which 
it is placed." 

In conclusion, let us apply to our Union 
the patriotic words of the Venitian sage, 

"ESTO PERPETUA," 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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